Galapagos and The ALS Association announce ¤2.4 million target discovery alliance

    Mechelen, Belgium and Calabasas  Hills, CA, USA;  11 December 2006  -
Galapagos NV  (Euronext  & LSE:  GLPG)  and The  ALS  Association,  a
non-profit health  organization  dedicated  to  finding  a  cure  for
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS),  announced today a new  two-year
target discovery alliance.  Galapagos' service division BioFocus  DPI
will apply its adenoviral platform  to identify drug targets for  the
development of new ALS therapies.  Under the terms of the  agreement,
Galapagos may receive up  to ¤2.4 million ($3  million) from The  ALS
Association.   In  addition,  Galapagos has  the  option  to  further
develop certain targets identified in the program.

Key  to  the  identification  of  ALS  targets  is  the  cell   model
representing the disease process in  ALS.  In this project,  BioFocus
DPI will  screen its  adenoviral  SilenceSelect collection  in  human
motor neurons.  BioFocus DPI will use the PluriCell human pluripotent
stem cell platform and expertise from Stem Cell Innovations for  this
screening.  PluriCells have the  potential to aid in drug  discovery,
toxicology, and  cell  therapy.    These  human  stem  cells  can  be
differentiated into motor neurons which will be used in this  program
as the cell system for functional selection of ALS drug targets using
the SilenceSelect collection.

"We are proud to work with  The ALS Association in the fight  against
ALS," said  Onno van  de  Stolpe, CEO  of Galapagos.  "This  alliance
builds on  both our  CNS expertise  and on  our strong  franchise  in
working   with   non-profit   health   organizations   to    identify
disease-modifying drug targets for unmet medical needs."

This  funding  from  The  ALS  Association's  translational  program,
Translational Research Advancing Therapy for ALS (TREAT ALS), is  the
largest to date  focused on drug  development.  TREAT  ALS seeks  new
avenues to therapeutics and puts into place a clinical trials process
that will be ready when any  new candidates are identified.   Several
pilot clinical  trials of  existing candidates  are already  underway
with TREAT ALS funding.

"We see  this  alliance with  Galapagos  as an  important  initiative
within The ALS Association's mission to  find a cure for and  improve
living with ALS," said  Dr. Lucie Bruijn,  Science Director and  Vice
President at  The  ALS  Association.   "Galapagos'  target  discovery
engine gives us new inroads toward developing medicines that may stop
ALS."

About ALS

Amyotrophic lateral  sclerosis  (ALS),  often  referred  to  as  "Lou
Gehrig's disease," is  a progressive  neurodegenerative disease  that
affects nerve cells in the brain  and the spinal cord. Motor  neurons
reach from  the brain  through  the spinal  cord  on to  the  muscles
throughout the body.  When the motor neurons die, the ability of  the
brain to  initiate  and  control  muscle  movement  is  lost.    With
voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later
stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.  The  progressive
degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to death of
the patient.  Yet, through it  all, for the vast majority of  people,
their minds remain unaffected.   Although a  small percentage of  ALS
cases is genetically inherited, incidence of ALS is mainly sporadic.
ALS affects  more than  30,000 Americans,  most of  whom are  between
40-70 years of age.  At this  time, the cost of medical care for  ALS
patients is exceedingly high.

About The ALS Association

The ALS Association  (ALSA) is  the only  U.S. not-for-profit  health
organization dedicated solely to the  fight against ALS. ALSA  covers
all the  bases -  research, patient  and community  services,  public
education, and advocacy - in providing help and hope to those  facing
the disease.  The mission of ALSA  is to find a cure for and  improve
living with amyotrophic  lateral sclerosis.   More information  about
ALSA can be found at www.also.org.

About Galapagos

Galapagos is a publicly traded, genomics-based drug discovery company
(Euronext Brussels,  GLPG;  Euronext Amsterdam,  GLPGA;  London  AiM:
GLPG) that has  drug discovery programs  based on proprietary,  novel
targets in bone and joint diseases - osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and
rheumatoid  arthritis.      Galapagos   offers  a   full   suite   of
target-to-drug discovery products and services to pharmaceutical  and
biotech companies  through its  division BioFocus  DPI,  encompassing
target discovery and drug discovery  services through to delivery  of
pre-clinical  candidates.    In   addition,  BioFocus  DPI   provides
adenoviral reagents for rapid identification and validation of  novel
drug targets,  compound  libraries  for drug  screening  as  well  as
chemogenomics and  ADME  database  products  to  select  targets  and
compounds.   Galapagos currently  employs more  than 380  people  and
operates facilities in seven  countries, with global headquarters  in
Mechelen, Belgium.  More information about Galapagos and BioFocus DPI
can be found at www.glpg.com.

CONTACT

Galapagos NV
Onno van de Stolpe, CEO
Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]

The ALS Association
Jeff Snyder, vice president, communications
Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]

This  release  may  contain  forward-looking  statements,  including,
without  limitation,  statements  containing  the  words  "believes,"
"anticipates," "expects," "intends,"  "plans," "seeks,"  "estimates,"
"may," "will,"  "could," "stands  to," and  "continues," as  well  as
similar expressions.   Such  forward-looking statements  may  involve
known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which  might
cause  the  actual  results,  financial  condition,  performance   or
achievements of  Galapagos, or  industry  results, to  be  materially
different from any historic or future results, financial  conditions,
performance  or   achievements   expressed   or   implied   by   such
forward-looking statements.  Given these uncertainties, the reader is
advised not  to  place any  undue  reliance on  such  forward-looking
statements.  These  forward-looking statements speak  only as of  the
date of publication of this document.  Galapagos expressly  disclaims
any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements in  this
document to  reflect  any  change in  its  expectations  with  regard
thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which
any such statement is based, unless required by law or regulation.

SilenceSelect® is a registered trademark of Galapagos NV and/or its
affiliates.
PluriCells(TM) is a trademark of Stem Cell Innovations, Inc.

- ---END OF MESSAGE---






Copyright © Hugin ASA 2006. All rights reserved.